Conscientious defectors, objectors, and the spoiler controversy (op-ed)

Among Republican Party loyalist Senator Ted Cruz’s speech at the Republican Convention was an act of disloyalty.

Senator Cruz was expected to honor a primary pledge obligating him to support the party’s nominee, but at the podium Senator Cruz never said he endorsed Donald Trump. Instead, he pleaded, “Vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and be faithful to the constitution.”

He was booed.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker said, “There shouldn’t have been boos, but Ted shouldn’t have gone out there and said at the end something that was clearly intended to spark controversy. He was implying people shouldn’t vote for Trump.”

The governor’s conclusion was drawn from a crisis of conscience and a crisis in party direction.

Republican Party loyalists believe their party is the lesser of two evils. For loyalist voting your conscience had been a vote for the party regardless of the cast of characters on the ballot, but this election cycle the Republican primary was invaded by an unrecognizable character, an outsider, a non-conservative political novice, whose unexpected campaign turned into a blitzkrieg that captured the Republican nomination for president.

Under these circumstances the “business as usual, party conscience, lesser evil” vote was out of the question because there was no lesser evil. The threat to limited government was equalized.

This created a psychological dependency on Senator Cruz’s support.

Since the senator is a towering figure of principle and no-compromise, he was the perfect enabler for party loyalist to vote for the party and ignore their reservations about the party’s choice.

But Senator Cruz didn’t reassure them that party loyalty was politically correct or even right.

So the negative reaction during the Senator’s speech was from collective guilt for being loyal to the party, but not its principles, and Senator Cruz was branded a traitor for not directing the blind when they needed faith.

Senator Cruz has effectively turned Republican Party loyalist into guilty conscience voters, most won’t defect because they have no reason to believe a Democratic President is best for the country, but some will accept the senator’s challenge.

The Democratic presidential primary also had an intruder.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders entered the race and captured the imagination of many that conscientiously objected to “the establishment” and Hillary Clinton’s assumption that she was heir apparent to the Democratic nomination and entitled to the presidency.

But after Sanders was defeated, he graciously endorsed his rival and, unlike Senator Cruz, encouraged his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton.

The difference here is that a lot of Sanders supporters weren’t Democratic Party loyalist and voting their conscience always meant rejecting “the establishment”. The latest poll showed that 10 percent of Sanders supporters won’t vote for Hillary Clinton in November.

The conscientious defectors on the right and conscientious objectors on the left might unintentionally determine the outcome of the presidential election.

I know what your thinking, combined they’re not even 5 percent of the electorate, but do you remember The Spoiler Controversy?

In 2000 Ralph Nader was the Green Party presidential candidate. Nationwide Nader received 2.74 percent of the vote.

Nothing, right?

But that election came down to a re-count in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes, but 97,421 Floridians voted for the Green Party. According to Ralph Nader exit polls in Florida reported 25 percent of his voters would have voted for Bush, 38 percent would have voted for Gore, and the rest would have stayed home, advantage Gore.

In every election every vote counts, especially when it’s a conscientious vote against the two party machine.

First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 8/3/16